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The United States<\/span> opened a new front in its world wars, launching joint military operations against what the Trump administration calls \u201cdesignated terrorist organizations\u201d in Ecuador on Tuesday.\u00a0Two government officials said it was the first of what was expected to be a larger campaign of raids.<\/p>\n Part of Operation Southern Spear<\/a> \u2014 the U.S. military\u2019s illegal campaign of strikes on boats<\/a> in the Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific Ocean \u2014 the expansion of America\u2019s conflicts in Latin America comes as the U.S. is heavily engaged in fighting a new war<\/a> in Iran<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThis was always going to escalate,\u201d said one government official briefed on Southern Spear who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss classified information. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t going to be just boat strikes forever.\u201d<\/p>\n U.S. Special Operations forces are now assisting in raids by elite Ecuadorian forces on suspected drug cartel \u201cprocessing and shipping\u201d facilities, according to a second U.S. government official who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to restrictions on sharing the information.\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It is unclear if U.S. forces are engaged in ground combat alongside their partner forces, as is common in America\u2019s secret wars<\/a> elsewhere in the world<\/a>, or simply providing support in intelligence, logistics, and mission planning.<\/p>\n \u201cThe operations are a powerful example of the commitment of partners in Latin America and the Caribbean to combat the scourge of narco-terrorism,\u201d U.S. Southern Command said in a spare statement<\/a> announcing the latest front in President Donald Trump\u2019s globe-spanning wars. A short\u00a0video<\/a> accompanying the post on X shows footage of helicopters without context.\u00a0<\/p>\n The military operation came a day after Marine Gen. Francis Donovan, commander of SOUTHCOM, met with Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa<\/a> in Quito, Ecuador, to discuss \u201csecurity cooperation\u201d and \u201creaffirm the United States\u2019 strong commitment to supporting the nation\u2019s efforts to confront narco-terrorism and strengthen regional security.\u201d He teased the possibility the U.S. would \u201cexpand\u201d its military ties with the South American nation.<\/p>\n \u201cEcuador is one of the United States\u2019 strongest partners in disrupting and dismantling Designated Terrorist Organizations in the region,\u201d said Donovan<\/a>. \u201cThe Ecuadorian people have witnessed firsthand the terror, violence, and corruption that these narco-terrorists inflict on communities across the region.\u201d<\/p>\n In classified briefings, beginning last fall, military officials hinted at the boat strikes expanding into a terrestrial campaign. In December, Trump said such strikes were imminent. \u201cNow we\u2019re starting by land, and by land is a lot easier, and that\u2019s going to start happening,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s land strikes on horrible people.\u201d<\/p>\n SOUTHCOM refused to provide additional information about the attack in Ecuador, including whether the strikes added to the more than 150 civilians killed in U.S. boat strikes<\/a> in the Caribbean and Pacific since September.<\/p>\n SOUTHCOM\u00a0\u2014 once an overlooked command \u2014 came to prominence late last year when it began taking credit for strikes carried out<\/a> by the secretive Joint Special Operations Command. <\/a>Donovan\u2019s predecessor, former commander Adm. Alvin Holsey, who was functionally overseeing the operation,\u00a0suddenly stepped down<\/a>, retiring less than a year into his tenure as head of the command, reportedly over the attacks<\/a>.<\/p>\n Investigations by The Intercept found that SOUTHCOM has been unable to cope<\/a> with the volume of civilian casualty reports stemming from the January mission to abduct Venezuelan President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro and has also left survivors<\/a> of the boat strikes to drown<\/a>.<\/p>\n For a president who ran for office promising to keep the United States out of wars, claims<\/a>\u00a0to be a \u201cpeacemaker<\/a>,\u201d has campaigned for a Nobel Peace Prize, and founded a so-called Board of Peace<\/a>, Trump is conducting wars across the globe at a furious clip. During his second term Trump has already launched attacks on\u00a0Ecuador, Iran<\/a>, Iraq<\/a>, Nigeria<\/a>, Somalia<\/a>, Syria<\/a>,\u00a0Venezuela<\/a>,\u00a0Yemen<\/a>, and on civilians in boats<\/a>\u00a0in the\u00a0Caribbean\u00a0Sea and Pacific Ocean. The Trump administration also claims to be at war with at least\u00a024 cartels and criminal gangs<\/a>\u00a0it will not name and has also threatened\u00a0Colombia<\/a>, Cuba<\/a>,\u00a0Greenland<\/a>,\u00a0Iceland<\/a>, and Mexico<\/a>.<\/p>\n The administration is reorienting the U.S. military toward power projection in the Western Hemisphere as part of what Trump and others have called the \u201cDonroe Doctrine<\/a>\u201d \u2014 a bastardization of the 1823 Monroe Doctrine. While President James Monroe\u2019s policy sought to prevent Europe from colonizing and meddling in the Western Hemisphere, Trump has wielded his variant as a license for America to do exactly that<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n